General Wear and Tear

mark_cc · 26-07-2011 5:04pm #1

Hi folks,

I wonder would anyone have any advice for me here. My fiance and I moved out of rental accomodation last month and our former landlord is holding onto our deposit until a small tear (bout the size of an old pound coin) has been repaired on a leather couch. There was also some chew marks from our dog on 2 of the kitchen chairs.
I'm wondering if this would be classed as general wear and tear? We honestly never spotted it, even when cleaning the house when we left.
Also, how long can they hold onto the deposit? Should we have gotten a timeframe or given one?
Kinda need the money with our wedding coming up soon!! Any advice would be much appreciated

PulpitNeil · 26-07-2011 5:14pm

The landlord is supposed to make deductions from the deposit to pay for damage, not retain the whole amount. Hard to know with the leather couch, but I imagine chew marks on chairs would be above normal wear and tear and so would be deductable. But you're entitled to most of your deposit back in this instance. You may have to go to the PRTB to get it.

mark_cc · 26-07-2011 5:15pm

Thats what I was afraid of. Wanted to avoid PRTB if at all possible. The time its taking to get it back is the worst of it though, just too long. Cheers for the advice!

PulpitNeil · 26-07-2011 5:33pm

Send the landlord a letter (keep a copy) stating that you will be lodging a dispute with the PRTB unless you can come to a reasonable agreement regarding the cost of repairs. Retaining your deposit is illegal unless the cost of damages and any unpaid bills and rent amounts to the total deposit, which it clearly doesn't in your case. The PRTB will take your side, and the landlord probably knows this and is hoping you don't. It's your money. Get it back.

athtrasna · 26-07-2011 10:07pm

Damage by a dog is certainly not normal wear and tear and you would be wholly liable for any costs associated with that imo. As for the couch, hard to comment on that without knowing the repair costs.

For normal wear and tear the landlord might expect to repaint to an extent, clean carpets and replace some broken crockery, any more serious damage might lead to an element of cost sharing with the tenants.

Aprilmay · 26-07-2011 10:41pm

athtrasna wrote: »

Damage by a dog is certainly not normal wear and tear and you would be wholly liable for any costs associated with that imo. As for the couch, hard to comment on that without knowing the repair costs.

For normal wear and tear the landlord might expect to repaint to an extent, clean carpets and replace some broken crockery, any more serious damage might lead to an element of cost sharing with the tenants.

I have to agree with you - Those chairs may need to be replaced altogether and an old 1punt coin is a decent size rip in a leather sofa. The new tenants may point out these things and will want them replaced/Fixed

The_Conductor · 27-07-2011 12:56am

The size of the hole in the leather couch could be construed as significant damage and the chewed chairs are certainly far in excess of what anyone would consider to be normal wear and tear.

To be honest- if the landlord decided to replace the lot- and it went to arbitration- I'd be very surprised if he/she wasn't awarded the entire cost of new furniture..........

D3PO · 27-07-2011 9:27am

smccarrick wrote: »

The size of the hole in the leather couch could be construed as significant damage and the chewed chairs are certainly far in excess of what anyone would consider to be normal wear and tear.

To be honest- if the landlord decided to replace the lot- and it went to arbitration- I'd be very surprised if he/she wasn't awarded the entire cost of new furniture..........

Totalyl agree with this. This is user damage and not wear and tear. A rare case of the landlord having a genuine claim to deduct from the deposit

mark_cc · 27-07-2011 1:11pm

Thanks for all the feedback guys. If the furniture is replaced and the deposit gone, Can we take it? What I mean is, the couch tear can be repaired for 50 quid (got a quote myself) and I could get the chairs replaced for less than 100. If the landlord claims the full deposit, can I take the damaged property with me? I'll be a little pissed if I lose the full deposit and the replaced couch is worth a good few bob after a small repair fee!

murphym7 · 27-07-2011 1:14pm

mark_cc wrote: »

Thanks for all the feedback guys. If the furniture is replaced and the deposit gone, Can we take it? What I mean is, the couch tear can be repaired for 50 quid (got a quote myself) and I could get the chairs replaced for less than 100. If the landlord claims the full deposit, can I take the damaged property with me? I'll be a little pissed if I lose the full deposit and the replaced couch is worth a good few bob after a small repair fee!

So fix the couch for 50 and replace the chairs for 100. Don't see the issue.

mark_cc · 27-07-2011 1:27pm

I wish it was, but she is adamant she will do it herself. Its the time its taking her thats really getting on our nerves. Like I said above, the money, even if its just part of it, would be really handy at the moment. I don't know how much longer would be a polite amount of time to give her to get the job done.

djmcr · 27-07-2011 1:32pm

murphym7 wrote: »

So fix the couch for 50 and replace the chairs for 100. Don't see the issue.

The issue is that the landlord will use any excuse to try and keep the full deposit

D3PO · 27-07-2011 1:59pm

mark_cc wrote: »

Thanks for all the feedback guys. If the furniture is replaced and the deposit gone, Can we take it? What I mean is, the couch tear can be repaired for 50 quid (got a quote myself) and I could get the chairs replaced for less than 100. If the landlord claims the full deposit, can I take the damaged property with me? I'll be a little pissed if I lose the full deposit and the replaced couch is worth a good few bob after a small repair fee!

yes if your paying out of your deposit then yes you can take it. As for repairing the couch or replacing the chairs its not very clear cut.

if they cant get 2 chairs to match they are probably entitled to repalce the full set to ensure a certain level of furhishing is still present. the same with the sofa it might cost 50 quid to fix the tear but if the result still impacts the furnishings they may have case

however you are entitled to see the reciepts of the replacements to prove the cost of them and the landlord cannot replace say a cheap pine wooden chair with a big highback solid oak chair for example it needs to be like for like or at least as clsoe as they can get.

mark_cc · 27-07-2011 2:01pm

Cheers D3PO, thats the shot. Makes perfect sense. I suppose we really just need to go back and meet her face to face again and get it all clarified.... now to get her to meet us! lol

D3PO · 27-07-2011 2:05pm

mark_cc wrote: »

Cheers D3PO, thats the shot. Makes perfect sense. I suppose we really just need to go back and meet her face to face again and get it all clarified.... now to get her to meet us! lol

well if she wont you can lodge a complaint to the PRTB. This should be a very transparent process.

I fear that although they have a level of validaty to keeping some deposit they may try and use it as a reason to keep it all.

General Wear and Tear

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